Unresolved Issues Impede Federal Debt Collection Efforts--A Status Report

摘要

Federal Government debt collection is not keeping pace with the increasing number of debts. U.S. citizens and organizations owed over $95 billion at the start of fiscal year 1979. Estimates from some Federal agencies show that at least $3.5 billion will be written off as uncollectible. Losses, however, will probably be greater because not all agencies have reported such data. GAO has made a number of reviews of debt collection and found that Federal efforts often were not aggressive and that collection methods were expensive, slow, and ineffective. GAO initiated revisions to the Federal Claims Collection Standards to strengthen collection efforts. However, intragovernmental disagreements over several issues are impeding efforts to implement these standards and legislation may be needed to finally resolve them.